The Druid’s Circle – Birkrigg Common

From Birkrigg Common – looking at the Druids’s Circle, Bardsea Church, and Chapel Island.

There is much evidence of prehistoric occupation in the area around Birkrigg. Several bronze age tumuli can be found on the Common. The Druid’s Circle lies on the south-east side of Birkrigg Common about half a kilometre from the coast, overlooking the village of Bardsee.

It consists of two roughly concentric stone rings. Only about 30 concentric stone circles exist in the UK, the best example being Stonehenge, with no others in Cumbria. The inner circle has a diameter of about 8.5 m, and consists of 12 stones of local Carboniferous limestone, with heights from 0.3 to 0.95 metres.

The outer ring consists of about 20 stones places very irregularly, with a diameter of about 24m, consisting of low stones obscured by bracken. Some of the stones are covered by turf, with a wide gap to the north-east, where no stones have been found.